Letters to the Editor - The Lakeville Journal - 6-4-20

Education costs too high for Falls Village

The mill rate in Falls Village is set to rise yet again, at a time when neighboring towns have lowered their rates or held them steady. 

The primary reason for the increase is a large number of eighth graders leaving the Lee H. Kellogg School for the Housatonic Valley Regional High School — congratulations to the newly minted ninth-graders!

This increases the payment Falls Village must make to HVRHS. But as town officials explained during a virtual town hall meeting on May 28, the payment is even bigger because students from Falls Village now account for a greater percentage of HVRHS students overall, 12.9% compared to 7.7% just two years ago, as parents in other towns opt for private schools. 

Thus, tiny Falls Village has little choice but to shoulder a high portion of HVRHS’ expenses, a trend that has developed over the last few years. The cost of sending Kellogg graduates to HVRHS increased 41% for the 2019/20 school year and 21.7% for the coming year — or 71.6% over two years.

The town cannot simply raise its mill rates each year as this trend continues. Its high mill rate makes it unattractive to younger families on tight budgets and depresses its property values. 

So savings must be found elsewhere — and the town’s biggest expense is the tiny Kellogg school itself. With more students graduating from Kellogg and fewer and fewer children enrolling, the time is ripe for a serious conversation about the sustainability of the school.

Consider the numbers. According to data from the state Department of Education, enrollment in Kellogg has fallen steadily over the past two decades and stood at 67 students in 2020. That’s an average of seven to eight students in a grade.

The School + State Finance Project reports that Falls Village taxpayers currently spend $29,000 to send each student to Kellogg, compared to a state average of $17,000 per student. North Canaan’s taxpayers spend $23,000 per student, and Salisbury’s taxpayers spend $24,000. Among towns in the Northwest Corner, only Cornwall spends more, at roughly $35,000 per student. Yet the mill rate in Cornwall is 16.7, while the rate in Falls Village is 24.6. 

Additionally, a handful of “nonresident” students currently attend Kellogg, each paying $2,000 annually to attend. That means the taxpayers of Falls Village subsidize those students to the tune of $27,000 apiece.

Maintenance at Kellogg also is increasing. Over the past year, the town has spent at least $20,000 to remove and replace propane tanks at the school and more than $8,000 on a new water softener. It now faces a $10,000 bill to replace two doors. 

These expenditures are necessary to operate the facility safely, but at what point does keeping the Kellogg School going cease to make financial sense for Falls Village? The taxpayers of Falls Village should be having that discussion now. 

Stephanie and Henrik Falktoft

Falls Village

So much for all of us to work on together

In the midst of adjusting to COVID-19 recently, I asked for people to reflect on their lives and consider anew, “What does it mean to you and to us to Live Fully?”

That seems a luxury now, so let US All consider, what does it mean to live with compassion for one another in light of the #BlackLivesMatter movement reignited by the tragic turn of events and loss of yet another person to police and systemic injustice and criminal behavior thankfully captured on video for all the world to see?

 Joining with the peaceful protestors, our country can take a collective moment of silence and “Say his name: George Floyd!” 

The mass protests are addressing publicly that it could be anyone caught in the ravages of systemic imbalance. With the heightened militaristic style of policing and the world in transition on many fronts, everyone has reason to be concerned. Addressing racism, discrimination, and abuse on many levels has to be a top concern. “Silence equals compliance” is an important talking point, so that’s why I’m writing as well...to “Break the Silence About All Forms of Violence.” Most realize many aspects of violence in homes, on the streets and in the courts and prison system are related.

The energies are gathering for more people to clarify what is we do want not just what we don’t want in these modern times. From grassroots to officials there are ideas to make reparations as Marianne Williamson campaigned for in her presidential bid. Many in leadership call for critical causes such as the environment and healthcare. In addition to local and state elections, the U.S. presidential election in November 2020 is critical to take part in.

With people taking to the streets in the thousands and  being supported by millions more to create a just and fair society, all women and children along with men need to clarify and implement strategies to make that happen. 

Sharing ideas and resources on a blog in each state representing the needs and wants of women, children and men, particularly of each ethnic group would be a fair place to start. 

Hopefully more people of privilege would want to make amends and be part of a solution to show compassion and seek forgiveness for systemic wrongdoing over the centuries in the modern world.

We can work collectively to create meaningful networks and coalitions as well as address concerns locally, on the state and national levels so there is clarity and consistency about how to support one another in advocacy and action on many levels.

We’re on our way to an empowered courageous day for everyone to share the load and walk in peace on the road to our shared future. The legacies of those who have gone before us cannot be forgotten but can be honored by our compassion for one another moving forward.   

Catherine Palmer Paton 

Falls Village

Grateful for court decision

The Connecticut Supreme Court made the right decision in upholding the Salisbury Planning and Zoning Commission’s right to regulate Sunday auto racing at Lime Rock Park. In the process, the court has preserved the future of Sunday chamber music concerts at Music Mountain in Falls Village. For that we are grateful.

Music Mountain is a Northwest Connecticut institution with a history that predates Lime Rock Park. Founded in 1930, Music Mountain has held weekend concerts in Gordon Hall, famed for its acoustics, for 90 consecutive summers — until this year, when the coronavirus pandemic forced us to cancel our season — making it the longest continuously running venue of its kind. (A series of weekly virtual programs, beginning Sunday, June 7 at 3 p.m., is in the works.)

The possibility of Sunday racing at Lime Rock may well have ended Music Mountain’s chamber concerts and jeopardized our existence. Noise rising up from the racetrack, less than five miles away, would have disrupted listeners’ experience.

Music Mountain is grateful to the LRCC and to the attorneys Timothy Hollister, Joette Katz, Andrea Gomes, Pat Naples; paralegal Beth Caron; and assistant to Mr. Hollister, Erin Fitzgerald, who successfully argued this final appeal. The LRCC worked tirelessly to advocate for the best interests of neighbors of the park, residents of Falls Village, Lime Rock, Lakeville and Salisbury, whose activities and well being would be compromised. We thank our own patrons who came through with support for LRCC to help back the litigation.

Music Mountain has long had an excellent relationship with Skip Barber and Lime Rock Park, and we look forward to putting this litigation behind us and moving forward together as important summer tourism destinations in the Northwest Corner, each with its own unique and indelible history.

David M. Conte

President, Board of Directors, Music Mountain

Falls Village

A tribute to a meaningful tradition

It is Memorial Day weekend in Salisbury, and there is no parade, but flags still line the streets. This year they hold a double meaning — they honor fallen soldiers and COVID patients and essential workers alike.

Other years, the parade begins by the library, where school marching bands assemble and the noisy energy of anticipation flows into the crowds gathered on Main Street. Dogs are out, wearing bandanas. Children squat at the front of the crowds, ready to sprint for candy tossed during the parade. Scouts and hockey teams, firefighters and veterans make their way through town with crowds cheering. It is a march of recognition, wherein Brownie Scouts share airtime with Vietnam vets.

When the uniformed veterans march by in unison, I am transported. It’s almost like a scene from a movie in small town America. This reality is so distant from my daily life in New York City that it feels we must have gone back in time. The eldest veterans sit in fancy cars and wave. I imagine that they too feel distant as they drive by and kids and dogs and vacationing families like mine clap and bark and run for candy. Who is this day for?

We walk through town to the cemetery, where a smell of thyme wafts up as sandaled feet make their way across the field. A line of veterans stands at attention and we all listen to a sermon. Each year I hear Psalm 23:4: Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me…. I am used to hearing these words in synagogue, my ritual space of contemplation, and it shocks me to hear them spoken in Salisbury, Connecticut, in a sea of flags. It shocks me how these words may hit both veterans and myself on a deep personal level — we who have lived such divergent lives.  

The names of local residents killed in combat are read out, a drum roll played with each name. We hear taps, first from the trumpet player before us, and then as an echo in the distance, like a response from those lost or deceased. Despite the trappings of candy and dress-up on the surface of the day, these rituals enacted every year cut through to a real sense of community and place here.  I recognize the fact of great sacrifice.

This year on Memorial Day, I walk the parade route, retracing the steps I take each year. Only one other family does the same, their children in red, white and blue. I gesture hello as we make our way to the cemetery, in two distinctly separate units. I walk past the place I usually stand, down the path that winds through the cemetery, noting names and dates, flowers planted and photographs laid out. It still smells like thyme as I tread lightly across the grass and make my way out, from empty cemetery to empty street.

Rosie Rudavsky

Salisbury

Best plant sale ever

On behalf of the Board of Directors and all the loyal patrons of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village, I want to express our heartfelt appreciation for the tremendous support that our recent Homegrown Plant Sale (Plant a Victory Garden) enjoyed in the wider Northwest Corner neighborhood. We had a far greater response this year to this annual event than we have ever enjoyed in the past, thanks to all the gardeners and wannabe-gardeners who came out in force to show their appreciation. 

We are also immeasurably grateful to the generous donors who shared their plant wealth that made the sale possible, and to the many steadfast volunteers and the staff members who made it all happen, while keeping everyone safe. The receipts from the plant sale will keep the library operational during this challenging time. 

The Hunt Library is indeed fortunate to be at the heart of such a vibrant and supportive community as Falls Village. 

Thank you to all!

Barbara Deinhardt

President,

Board of Directors

David M.Hunt Library  

Falls Village

Thanks to ambulance squad

I want to give a shout out of thanks to our all volunteer ambulance squad, with Jamie Casey as its captain. 

Living in the Northwest Corner is wonderful — its scenery, the camaraderie, knowing your neighbors. But, for our small towns, we only have volunteers who respond to emergencies.  We depend on them. During these trying times, we all should remember that they are always there for us. They go to their regular jobs, have families and other commitments. Yet, they still do their duties at all hours of the day and night to respond when an ambulance call beckons.   

Right now, they cannot hold fundraisers nor their regular Pancake Breakfasts. The Sharon Ambulance Squad should get our help and gratitude. They desperately need a new ambulance.  I hope that residents of Sharon will remember them and give them a thanks and if you can, send a donation — large or small. 

Marlene Woodman

Sharon

When it’s pandemic time

It’s an excuse to write a rhyme

Or a reason for golf to play

If ones brains are made of clay

People dying by the hordes

One person playing like a lord

Our country desperately needs a change

For we live in times so strange

November can’t come fast enough

We are made of stronger stuff

So go out and vote

So we can demote

And live our lives in peace

And wait for the arrival of the police

Michael Kahler

Lakeville

More information on LJ Co. loan needed

Your May 6 editorial states that The Lakeville Journal was approved for government stimulus funds through the Paycheck Protection Program.

You noted that this transaction might help the paper achieve stability, depending on whether the funds become a loan or a grant, so apparently it was a sizeable amount of money, although you did not state the amount.

Since these are taxpayer funds being doled out, and since the public is now doing so much to support the paper’s very existence, the amount of the funding should be stated and explained.

Indeed, some local businesses must wonder how the Journal even qualified for funds since the paper has been running deficits for decades and only survived last year because of a last ditch effort to raise public donations of over $100,000. The Journal presumably would not have qualified for any sort of conventional loan, yet has now received government aid while some other businesses, which presumably weren’t in red ink since the 1990s, were denied. It’s hard to figure.

Was this transaction administered and approved by Salisbury Bank? That bank recently purchased the Lakeville Journal building for $600,000 in a sale so rushed that the bank ended up tearing down the building after purchase, explaining (unconvincingly) that it only discovered after the sale that the building did not fit its needs and a new structure would have to be built.

Also on May 6, your front page report about the stimulus program did not mention how the local banks who administer these funds get compensated for that work. Does the government pay them well or poorly? Taxpayers should know these figures too.

As to whether the funds you receive become a grant or a loan, doesn’t the money have to be used for payroll and rent during the downturn to be a grant? What else would you use it for? If the transaction ends up being a loan, wouldn’t the ensuing debt require even more local donations to help you cover it?

Your oft-stated mission and rationale for seeking public assistance is so you can provide vital in-depth reporting of local governance, tax issues, public expenditures and the like. That’s what these questions are about.

A public-service newspaper that reports on such issues and also receives such assistance is not just an average private business that can keep such details to itself.

Mark Godburn

Norfolk